On 11 September SBS, EFESME and FEPYMA (the Spanish association of lifts SMEs) co-organised a national seminar for SMEs in the lifts sector in Bilbao. The SBS seminar was organised as part of one the FEPYMA information days to inform sectoral SMEs of current and future changes in Spanish national legislation on lifts.
The seminar took place over two sessions, tackling different aspects of the involvement and benefits of lifts SMEs in standardisation.
The first session was opened by Ana Belen Piazuelo, owner of a lifts SME and long-term participant in the UNE national committee CTN321 on lifts, who discussed how to practically engage with the standardisation process at national level and importance for SMEs of directly contributing to shaping the standards in the sector. Following this intervention, Luca Incoronato of ANACAM (Italian association of lifts SMEs) described the European legislative framework on lifts, including references to the new Machinery Regulation approved in 2023, and the interplay between international and European standards in the sector. The first session was closed by Ivan Ferrarini, SBS expert in CEN/TC 10, who offered a mapping of the standards currently under development or revision both at CEN and ISO level.
The second session of the seminar was opened by Andrea Raffaelli, SBS Standardisation policy officer, who outlined the role and goals of SBS in support of SMEs at all level of standardisation, highlighting the work of the SBS technical experts and the impact of SBS’s action both on the technical and the political side, referencing in particular the ongoing work in the High-Level Forum on European standardisation and how standards can help SMEs take advantage of the opportunities created by the twin transition. The second session continued with interventions from Ana Belen Piazuelo and from Lorenzo Beltran, also an owner of an SME operating in the lifts sector, who highlighted the practical benefits of direct involvement in standardisation to the work and growth of their companies, offering tangible examples of how standards can help SMEs scale up and prosper.
The well-attended event was an excellent opportunity for SBS its partners to highlight the concrete benefits of standards to SMEs and help them engage directly with the standardisation process and drive their growth.